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Re: Dented new toroids?



Original poster: "Dr. Duncan Cadd by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <dunckx-at-freeuk-dot-com>


-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla list <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Date: 19 December 2000 00:21
Subject: Re: Dented new toroids?


>Original poster: "Kennan C Herrick by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>"
<kcha1-at-juno-dot-com>
>
>The best solution, of course, is to get UPS to spring for a new one.  But
>if you have to get at the dents, I'd think that splitting the toroid
>would not be a good idea; getting it back together again smoothly might
>be a real problem.  Plus, it'd take a lot of heat to deteriorate the
>epoxy, if that is indeed what they used to stick it together.


Agree.  As a route of last resort, I suggest the following.

Drill and tap a small hole in the toroid.  Fill with water.  You now have two
options:

1)  Screw bicycle pump onto toroid and use hydraulic pressure to force out
dents
(may need to water-fill the pump) or use a foot pump, or use an hydraulic ram
and oil fill the toroid instead etc depending on thickness/toughness of metal .
. . use imagination.  A model engineering / railway club will have boiler
pressure test gear and can no doubt help with doing this sort of thing with
minimum fuss.  Their gear will go up to a few hundred psi no bother.

2)  Plug hole and place water-filled toroid in freezer, or outdoors if cold
enough.  The expanding ice should expand the dents if you are lucky, but will
split the toroid if you are not lucky.  You may need to thaw, add more water,
plug, refreeze etc to get all the dents out.  Slow freezing and thawing
probably
less unkind to the toroid than quick freezing and thawing.  Thawing best done
with toroid in the bathtub in case of splits.  Nice method for this time of
year, depending on where you live!

Spinning with mercury inside will be fine if the toroid is steel.  If it's
aluminium (or even aluminum) there will be a lot of heat and your nice toroid
will start growing white whiskers as it turns into a heap of aluminium
amalgam/aluminium oxide.  In my younger days, I used to "disintegrate" bits of
aluminium glazing angle by rubbing them with a solution of mercury nitrate and
watching with gleeful intensity as the metal oxidised away before my eyes -
until it got so hot I dropped it.  Mercury and allie are not a happy
combination.


Dunckx